By Etega
X – @BethCooper1313
Nowadays, It seems that every time one opens social media or television channels in Ethiopia, there is a political activist, a politician, or a random social media account operating under a shield of anonymity that espousing vitriol against ethnic Amharas. Where is this animosity esteeming from? Why is it being tolerated or even encouraged? In this brief essay we will try to examine the roots of this Anti-Amhara sentiment and why this dangerous trend needs to be addressed.
The term “Hate Speech” encompasses any speech intended to intimidate, degrade, and incite prejudice or even violence against a community based on their nationality, race, ethnicity, religion etc. Hate speech acts as a major catalyst for violence, hate crimes and ethnic based conflicts and genocide.
Anti-Amhara hate speech has long been utilized since the DERG regime labeled ethnic Amharas as “Neftegna”, which dehumanized and made them main targets of “Red Terror”. This anti-Amhara rhetoric spread widely after the Tigryan Liberation Front(TPLF) rose to power whose manifesto explicitly stated its cause for struggle as fighting the oppresses ethnic Amharas labeling them as the enemy, even though it could be argued that Tigryans have also been associated with the so called Neftegna system by the student movement of the 60s .
This oppressor characterization is inaccurate and fails to represent the full diversity and spectrum of experiences. Around 50 million Amhara population has lived and continues to live under extreme poverty, just like the rest of the country’s population. It is an unreasonable overgeneralization to label the masses as the ruling class when only the minority of the former imperial Royal family benefited from the Ethiopian empire which as a matter of fact included a considerable number of Non Amhara rulers and noblemen in their respective territories .
This “ oppressor” narrative continues to be used by Oromo elites to deconstruct the multi national state of Ethiopia and construct an Oromized, homogeneous nation. Anti Amhara propaganda is strategically employed to create a false sense of unity against a perceived threat of colonial Amharas amongst the very heterogeneous Oromo and other non Amhara groups in Ethiopia. One example is how they refer to themselves as “ Kushite” descendants of the ancient Kush kingdom to negate and portray Amharas with their Semitic origins as mere settlers, outsiders, colonizers who don’t belong to Ethiopia, Africa .
It is concerning that killing, displacing and defiling Amhara corpses and specially ethnic slurs and hate speech against Amharas is being justified under the very false premise of retaliation, pay back or punching up that many don’t even consider it as a an offense. As evidenced by historical examples all over the world as well as the violent ethnic cleansing on Amharas being carried out, Genocides are almost always preceded by hate campaign against a group.
This Dehumanization and hatred towards Amharas is directly inciting violence especially to the ones residing outside the regional state. Open pleas not only on social media but Television channels such as OMN and the government owned OBN to mark Amhara owned businesses and homes, burn them to the ground, to kill all Amhara neftegnas starting with one’s neighbors, rallies on the streets of the capital city Addis Ababa chanting “down down neftegna Amhara” are spreading like wildfire in the past 6 years.
Instances of anti Amhara hate speech include :
Negative stereotyping and dehumanization : Amharas are commonly labeled as feudal overlords, colonizers, settlers, land grabbers, imperialist, beggars, amputees and so on. They are commonly referred as “donkeys” to diminish their human qualities and completely alleviate cognitive dissonance.
Denial of Amhara existence : Few political elites have strategically denied the Amhara identity by claiming that Amhara culture, language, history, and identity are artificially constructed concepts. This narrative has been propagated by numerous individuals since the 1960s, including the Oromo dictator Colonel Mengistu. Such rhetoric has been advanced through National television interviews, published articles, books, and is being perpetuated by contemporary Oromo and Tigre nationalists.
Open call for ethnic cleansing : video clips provided under this essay, demonstrate deeply troubling instances of ethnic incitement. Individuals preaching wanton slaughter of Amhara neighbors, urging to never let Amhara fetuses be born and demanding those in inter ethnic marriages to leave their Amhara partners immediately. Calls to burn down churches and mosques going as far as mocking Amhara religious leaders as “terrorists in black bonnet”. Sadly all of which have had real world consequences that continue to be physically manifested.
False and Revisionist history: Rewriting history by vilifying Amharas and integrating it to school curricula while diminishing their historical contributions to Ethiopia and bold claims that Amhara forcefully imposed its language and culture while more than 80 ethnic groups have been preserved and flourished under the monarchy. This misrepresentation of history is fueling resentment towards Amharas leading to over 2 million of them being internally displaced and hundreds of thousands of dead.
In conclusion, hate speech has increasingly become a weaponized tool aimed at psychologically disabling the Amhara youth and radicalizing others against them. Through persistent dissemination of anti Amhara rhetoric across various media platforms, Oromo nationalists seem committed to sowing seeds of this discord to succeed in their mission to build the great Oromo nation by exterminating the Amharas.
Clips:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMM4AEHy1
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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“The best thing you can do for your family, your children, society, and the world around you is to enhance yourself and your humanity, (not the worst within you). ” SG
“If you knew the pain of a tree, an animal, or anything in existence as you know the pain of your body, you would keep everything well.” SG
“Getting intoxicated by drink your own hate poison, expecting someone else to die, is not only a wishful thinking a disaster waiting to happen for yourself.”
I think we all need to step back and take a deep breath and put these in perspective.
If these people’s ancestors were as hateful to you as you are displaying such a visceral-hate & shouting out loud to them now, & done to your ancestors what you said you would like to do to them now, you wouldn’t be here, would you?
The era we are heading into now is, where the “truth” that was suppressed and buried for the longest time, under the heavy weight of all the lies, will not only surface but thrive as all the lies get exposed & die-out for good.
Pray for TIME and you will see it all.
Be well.